One of the things about being a Librarian is that we talk a lot about books. About a year ago, I met a couple of customers outside of the library and they told me that they were returning from an urban hike. I was immediately interested because I am quite fond of my urban hiking adventures. They had found their hike in Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles by Charles Fleming. On my next visit to Barnes and Noble, I picked the book up. It has been a little over a year since the conversation and the book has mouldered on my bookshelf. I have taken it out a few times but nothing ever came of it until this past week. I have resolved to enjoy my days off more fully, and for me that involves projects and movement. This week during lunch, I leafed through the book trying to determine how I would use it. I could start from the beginning or I could start from the end. I could start with the closest walk or even the furthest walk. But in the end, the walk that caught my attention was the one with a promised bear hunt--Walk #27: Silver Lake Court. The blurb for the walk is as follows: This is a country walk in the city, along a strecth of the old Red Car electric trolley system. It has loads of elevation change, amazing views, and a bear hunt. This is a 3.2 mile walk with a 605 steps and a 3.5 out of 5 level of difficulty. The estimated time given is 1 hour and 15 minutes. But given my directionally challenged nature, I added another 45 minutes to an hour cushion on that time.
This morning, Good Friday, I decided it was best to get the walk out the way, accomplish my goal, come home for a shower and then figure out what to do for the rest of the day--chores, tidying, laying on the couch recovering, I packed up my camera backpack, grabbed a bottle of water, my hat, logged in the cross streets of Riverside Drive and Fletcher Drive into Google Maps and was on my way--well there was a brief stop at Starbucks for a banana and latte. I arrived at my destination, spotted Rick's Drive Thru as promised in the book, found street side parking and immediately headed out with confidence toward Rick's--I got about 50 yards from the car when I thought it might be a good idea to check with the guide--and true to form, I was in fact going in the wrong direction. Right away, I noticed a discarded set of stairs in the hillside leading no where.
After another wrong turn, I got on the path. A balsalt totem? tiki? greeted me at the first set of stairs.
Instant enchantment and I earmarked the photo as one I would share with friends on my mailing list.
I ignored the next set of stairs as directed by the guide book and headed down the dirt road and into the glen. The guide says that this is a piece of unincorportated land that use to be controlled by the public transit system. The old elevated Pacific Electric Red Car trolley line ran right through here, from downtown Los Angeles out to Atwater Village, Glendale and beyond. I followed on through, had to back track once again before finding my second set of stairs. This is a fairly step set of 113 steps. The guide says note the profusion of security cameras at the bottom. Connected to what? Placed by whom? Indeed!
I climbed the stairs, noting the sound of construction of the house next too the stairs. Spordically one of the workmen would burst into song. Once on top, I wasn't clear on where to go. I turned right, noted the log cabin row of houses--seemingly more appropriate for Vail than LA.
I wandered down to the end of the street and was on my way back when I stopped and chatted with someone living in one of the log cabin houses. He said he was from Maine and immediately decided he had to live in one of the houses which were built in the 1980's. He asked me about the book and we determined that perhaps the house under construction was the big, square, white residence with a sign in the window reaing "Holyland Exhibit". One of Silver Lake's kidden oddities, this is a Bible Knoweldge Society museu dating from 1924, containing Middle Easter antiquities including a mummy that predates Christ by 600 years. Too bad, as visiting more muesums is also on my list of more productive days off. Since I couldn't find a street sign, I continued to be unsure until I got the bright idea of actually looking at the map rather than the text. Once again, I muddled my way back on to the right path.
The third set of stairs was the most challening. This one is a marvel of design and construction--courtesy of C.W. Shafer, inspected by W.E. Moyle--without rails or lights, but it's a numerologist's dream. Rising a total of 219 steps on a zigzag switchback pattern, this set comprises nine matching flights of 21 steps each, headed and footed by matching sets of 15 steps. I took an extended breath catching moment to enjoy a couple of hummingbirds.
Finally at the top, I noted two signs, one a cute sign about cats and the other asking people to adopt a historic Silver Lake staircase.
The next leg of the walk was pretty easy going along Hidalgo street, I walked for a bit with Joan and her Korean Jindo Sunny who is 14 years old and loves to walk. Joan told me that she and her husband bought their house from the original owners in 1996. Their home was built in the 1920's and was built to win the hand of a young woman. The story passed on to me was that the lady they bought the house from had told her beau that she would considering marrying him if he built her a house up on the hill. He did and they stayed in the house for 60 some odd years. Joan pointed out the resevoir but since it had been drained, it wasn't a very grand vista. After a while, I continued on my own and spotted the Hollywood sign and Griffith Observatory when the view opened up. For a while I contemplated the beauty of Los Angeles and how you could find a country walk in the city. I considered San Francisco which offers plenty of hills and urban walking opportunities. The only real country walks I could think of right in the city was the Presido, but I have walked that it seems so much more refined. It is highly unlikely that I would find a ukelele face tucked in a fence in the Presido but here I found it almost poetic.
I found the next set of stairs and someone getting their exercise in my running up and down them.
Along the way, I revisited some step walking memories--the Diamond Head steps. One time I walked them twice in one day taking students on a field trip. Then the time in Japan when the stairs never seemed to end, we would enter a landing thinking this was it only to find another set of stairs ahead. At the top was a shrine to Tengu--the phallic nosed Shinto diety. Eventually we got there and I am sure we considered the climb worthwhile, but what was most memorable about the walk was the shared dismay and dread of not being at the end. I reminised a bit about how it is the path and not the destination that is often more memorable--very Zen of me.
Finally, I was back to the first set of steps, I encountered. I noticed an older Oldmobile Cutlass running with the door open and had a few whimsical thoughts about time travel.
Once back down, I headed over the Coco's Variety Store which was touted as a place for a used bicyle, book, or water ski. As far as I could tell, the bike store was just a bike store, but next door was a salvage, antique, design store. I stopped in and was greeted by a friendly black and white tabby. I chatted with the owner while I took in the variety of items on display. We discussed Coco's Variety and she said that the owner was mad for garage sale-ing and that sometimes he had quirky stuff.
I enjoyed chatting with the owner of the antique, salvage, design store and poking around the curiosities in their warehouse out back and petting Minyet (crumb). Her story was that she was found abandoned as a kitten at a storage building the day before the owner and her furniture making husband were going on a roadtrip to New York. Minyet was so tiny she used a Tupperware cake pan as a litter box. The owner said that she felt bad for loading up the cat into a car but that was all they could do and it gave them a grand opportunity to bond. Happily Minyet turned out to have a sweet personality and enjoys getting her head scratched from new people.
I didn't see any of the bears and I didn't note the house designed in 1962 by Frank Lloyd Wright's grandson, Eric Lloyd Wright, for Rupert Pole, where Anais Nin lived and wrote the last years of her life. Actually, it might have been the house the Joan told me was under recent renovation--simple on the outside but quite lovely on the inside.
Once I left, I found I was actually quite hungry--I had two immedicate choices--Rick's or across the way Home. I liked the bird house sign and decided to give it a try. I enjoyed an omlette as breakfast is served all day. Throughly satisfied with my day, I came home and dropped off for an hour nap. What I enjoyed most about the day other than the sense of accomplishment was how friendly everyone was and quite willing to share their stories with me. I loved hearing about the house built for love and a little tiny kitten traveling cross country with her new family.
